Girl in a Brown Dress
by ChocolateIsMyDrug
Summary: From Elizabeth Gaskell's 'North & South'. Completely series-based; a look at the story of the woman in the brown dress. Please read and review!


**A/N:** Have you guys even wondered about the story of the woman in the brown dress who wandered relentlessly back and forth over the platform in the station scene? I realise it was probably a continuity error, but here's my version of her story. Hope you enjoy!

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**Girl in a Brown Dress**

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The girl looked around nervously, securing her borrowed brown cloak and hood more firmly, ensuring that it left her face in shadow. She had not come this far simply to be found out. She had left everything behind to come this far, and she was not going to let it all be in vain.

She stood waiting for some time, making his excuses: he might have been caught up in a last-minute business engagement, the roads might have been congested; he would be here in five minutes... ten minutes... fifteen minutes...

Finally she strode over to the other side of the station, to see the time on the big clock. Two o'clock. It was two hours later than their agreed meeting time at noon, and he still wasn't here. A painful lump rose in her throat and her eyes began to prickle uncomfortably.

_Stop it,_ she told herself sternly, trying in vain to quell her rising panic. _He will come. He _must _come. _He had promised her, told her he couldn't live without her, told her that they _must_ be together. He had told her so earnestly that he didn't care a whit for fortune or rank or what his family said, that all he wanted was to be with her. They would go to Scotland, he had said, and would start their lives afresh and be married and have ten children and live happily ever after.

She managed to suppress her tears. Whatever was delaying him, he would no doubt have a good reason. She berated herself for having – even for a moment – lost her implicit trust in him.

She began to pace up and down the platform, trying to keep her mind occupied only on the movement of her legs, first one step, then the other...

Her sharp intake of breath was an audible gasp and for a moment, her heart leaped into her throat, but the next moment it sank back past its usual place and settled somewhere around her navel. For a moment she had thought that the tall, dark-haired man who had just stepped out of the train carriage had been _him,_ but it had taken only a split second to shatter this hope.

For a few seconds, as her heart-rate slowly returned to normal, she watched as he conversed with a pretty lady in a green dress, but then she wrenched her gaze away and began to pace once more, her movements jerky. Tears had come to her eyes afresh as she had witnessed the loving, tender look in the stranger's eyes as he had pressed a yellow rose into the lady's hands – _he _looked at her like that, in a way that made her tingle all over with a delicious warmth and contentment. And _he _was still not here.

Perhaps she would go and wait at the main entrance, so that she would be sure to see him as soon as he arrived. She shaded her eyes from the sun with her hand, straining to see if she could spot his tall, upright figure approaching.

Nothing. Her shoulders slumped.

Then she started as she heard her name announced by the station master. 'Miss –––, please make your way to the front desk, Miss –––!'

Heart pounding, she hurried across the station platform, dark-haired man and lady in green dress forgotten. _Of course_, she thought, almost laughing at her own stupidity. _He couldn't recognize me with this cloak covering my face!_ And now he would be there by the front desk, waiting for her...

She stopped short and her heart sank again. _He _was not there. What did this mean? Where was he? What was she –

'Miss, can I help you?'

She shook herself out of her painful reverie. 'I'm Miss –––,' she said, trying valiantly to keep her voice steady.

The station master nodded and pulled out an envelope from a file. 'This note was left for you,' he said, handing it to her.

_His _writing was on the front! Hardly looking up from her treasure to thank him, she made her way over to one of the green benches on the platform, tearing the seal open on the way.

'_To Miss _–––,

_I am writing to inform you that all is at an end between us. After further thought on the matter I have come to realise what madness and folly I was unthinkingly rushing into. I am convinced that with such a disparity as exists between us in almost every particular, our union would only end in misery, not only for myself, but for you as well. Therefore, I think it best if we part now as friends._

_I apologise if I have kept you waiting on a fool's errand._

_Regards,_

_J.W.'_

Her legs felt like they were made of lead as she stumbled over to the green bench that the dark-haired man and pretty lady had just vacated. Her face was deathly pale and her eyes felt as if they were burning, but they were completely dry. Her hands were cold as ice, and the cheerful afternoon sun did nothing to warm her.

Then she happened to glance to her left. The dark-haired man was helping the pretty lady to place her bag into his carriage and they were smiling lovingly into each other's eyes, radiating happiness. _That should have been us, _she thought. And then the tears began to flow.

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End file.
